Serial or parallel data interfaces are known for connecting different apparatuses to each other. For instance, Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces are used at a plurality of apparatuses.
Such data interfaces may comprise a power supply pin, which might be used to transmit power from one apparatus to another apparatus.
With devices compatible with the USB 2.0 standard, it is possible to provide a maximum charging power of about 2.5 W to a compatible device, while the USB 3.0 standard allows a supply of up to about 4.5 W. The maximum charging power which can be provided by chargers compatible to the so called USB Battery Charging Specification V1.2 (USB BC 1.2) is about 7.5 W. However, this is still not sufficient for a lot of today's mobile devices, which often comprise high capacity battery packs.
For tackling this problem, the so called USB Power Delivery Specification V1.0 extended this range of maximum charging power and introduced the idea of multiplexing power delivery data into the power supply line and sending the power delivery data over the VBUS pin of the USB interface. Depending on the charger's capabilities there can then be provided different profiles or operating modes allowing charging powers of up to 10 W, 18 W, 36 W, 60 W or 100 W, for example. However, this solution has certain drawbacks.
In particular, the intended multiplexing of a communication signal, such as power delivery data, modulated by frequency shift keying into the VBUS line of the USB interface may be problematic. For instance, it may require low pass filtering on both the power provider side and the power consumer side of the VBUS line. The filtering may, however, add cost, complexity, size and/or resistance to the interfaces. As a result, power dissipation in the VBUS line may be increased, which may then deteriorate the charging performance from normal Dedicated Charging Port (DCP) type USB chargers, for instance. A filtering coil, for instance, may also be prone to electromagnetic interference.